Higgenbotham wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2024 1:03 am
The empty states are the ones with lots of dark green on the population map. They're also dry as a bone.
Almost 30 years go, I was in eastern Montana and found a gas station up on a hill. Got out of the car and looked out and it seemed like I could literally see 50 miles. Nothing in sight but grassland. It was silent in a unique way.
The gas pump was old style. Not old enough to see the gas in it, but probably the next model after that. Had to go in and pay cash. There was a woman in there with a pen and paper notebook. She must have been 85 years old. She wrote the sale down in the book. The place looked like an old general store that hadn't changed in 60 years.
A car drove up and a mother and daughter got out. The car could be noticed coming from a long way away. They looked me up and down as if to search their entire life history to make a determination they had never seen me before. I'm going to guess there may have been less than 100 people living in the whole county. Then without saying a word they walked into the store.
When I got back to the city it took a few days to get used to the noise and things like people creeping out into intersections and just crowds in general. It made me think that I was living in an abnormal environment and had never realized it, and that eastern Montana was more normal.
The previous day, I had talked to an old Norwegian guy in western North Dakota. He told me his dad owned some land around Miles City, Montana. He told me the going price (at that time almost 30 years ago) was $50 per acre.